ben10fanfictionfandomcom-20200222-history
Not Applicable (Movie)/Act 1
Buildings were being destroyed. Life was being warped into something beyond comprehension. Reality itself was falling. {1} Three humanoid beings stood around a glowing device that was exploding with violent purple energy, each attempting to reach it as the fabric of spacetime ripped and folded around them. “It’s uncontrollable!” One of the figures shouted. “We have to destroy it!” “No!” Another yelled. “We can still control it! We can reverse this! We can fix everything!” “It’s too late!” The third argued. “We need to salvage what we can and escape!” “Escape to where?!” The first figure yelled. “If this thing isn’t shut down, it’ll destroy every timeline in existence!” “I won’t let you destroy our work for your paranoid delusions!” The second yelled back. “''Delusions?!'' This machine is ripping apart reality as we speak and you dare to call me delusional?!” “If you won’t handle it correctly, then I will!” The second figure lunged towards the device, the first quickly following suit in an attempt to stop him. “Don’t!” The third yelled, reaching his arm out towards them. “You’ll both-” His warning was cut off by purple bolts suddenly exploding out of the device and hitting the two figures running towards it. Before they could let out so much as a scream, their bodies folded in on themselves, disappearing from existence. The remaining figure put down his hand and stared at the device with a look of desperation. “Dear God above, if you exist, please…” He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a strange, capsule-like device. “Let this work.” ---- “Now let me get this straight.” On a small, icy dwarf planet relatively close to the Sol system, there sat a similarly small spaceship that had obviously been outfitted with after-market modifications and weaponry, bringing its legal status very much into question. Sitting inside that spaceship was its owner, a blue humanoid alien made up of a semi-sloping box-shape composing his torso and relatively simple geometric shapes composing his limbs. He wore a green sash around his torso, which appeared to be filled with multiple supplies and weaponry, much of which was also likely to be illegal, all things considered. “You want me to go to Earth and retrieve a minuscule device you yourself don’t know the purpose of?” The alien spoke into his ship’s communications system. “That’s correct.” Another voice replied from the other end of the call. “Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?” “Of course I do. Fortunately for you, I have something that will make it sound a bit less ridiculous. Am I correct in assuming you have an OmniNav?” “Uh, yeah.” The blue alien glanced at the small, compass-like gadget hanging off his sash. “Why?” “Then this will be fairly easy.” There were a few moments of silence, followed by the blue alien’s OmniNav beeping and lighting up with a set of coordinates. “What was that?” The blue alien asked. “That was me adding a new program to your OmniNav. It’ll let you track the device’s location down to the inch.” “How did you-” “The device’s power source gives it a unique energy signature.” “No, I mean, how did you access my OmniNav? I didn’t even give you the remote upload code!” “Not important. What you need to worry about is retrieving that device.” “And when I do, I’ll get the payment?” “Correct. However, time is of the essence. If my analysis of the energy it’s emitting is correct, this device must not come into direct contact with any intelligent life. There’s no telling what sort of damage it could cause.” “Alright, I think I got it. Get in, get the device, absolutely do not touch the device, bring it back to you. Sounds simple enough.” The voice on the other end of the line scoffed. “”Simple enough”, you say? Famous last words.” ---- The big city, a sprawling complex of lights, liveliness, and an absolutely unreasonable amount of traffic jams. No matter the time of day, something always seemed to be happening in it. In this particular city, said “something” was a blond teenager currently attempting to escape from the police. “Crap, crap, crap!” He exclaimed, turning the corner into a small alleyway he hoped the cops wouldn’t notice. “Out of all the people to recognize me, it had to be the cops?!” The blond teenager wore a ragged orange shirt and a pair of blue jeans with multiple tears in them. The treads on his shoes were worn down to practically nothing, and he clearly hadn’t had a place to shower any time over the past few weeks. “What now, what now, what-” He suddenly spotted a dumpster a ways down the alley and ran for it, jumping in and piling some of the garbage on top of himself to conceal his body. “I really hope there isn’t any broken glass in here…” After a few minutes of lying silently in the dumpster, he heard a few steps of footsteps coming through the alleyway. He held his breath as a beam of light passed over the top of the dumpster, releasing it in relief as the light and footsteps began to move away from his position. As he was about to climb out of the dumpster, he heard yelling start from the end of the alleyway, followed by the sounds of several large objects hitting the ground, and then...silence. He stayed silent for a few more minutes before finally deciding to climb out of the dumpster, taking a cautious glance around the alleyway to make sure nobody was there. He spotted the bodies of several police officers lying on the ground at the end of the alleyway, seemingly unharmed, but for whatever reason, not breathing. He slowly began backing out of the alleyway, only to stop when he felt a pair of piercing eyes boring into the back of his skull like fiery daggers in the night. “And where do you think you’re going?” A strange voice dripping with smug malice said from behind him. He whipped around to find a skeletal figure with what appeared to be some sort of jack-o-lantern fitted over its skull. Ominous otherworldly red flames drifted from the figure’s head, and it wore what seemed to be a pair of old leather boots and some sort of noose around its neck. “Took you long enough to notice me.” The strange figure flashed a wicked grin. “Would you like to make a deal?” ---- {2} The teen slowly began backing away from the new arrival, keeping a worried eye on it as he went. “A-a deal?” He stuttered, trying not to trip over anything. “What do you mean? What even are you?” “You may call me Lord Kucorbian.” The figure replied, beginning to approach him at the same rate he was backing away. “You don’t need to know the details. As for the deal, well, here’s how it works. You seem to be rather down on your luck right now, are you not? Running from your planet’s authority and hiding among literal trash?” “Y-yes…but I don’t-” “I can fix that.” Kucorbian made a short lunge at the teen to emphasize his point. “I can give you fame, fortune, concubines, whatever it is you desire, and I only ask for one thing in return.” “What?” “Your soul.” The teenager stopped moving backward and stared at Kucorbian with a mix of caution and bewilderment. “...Are you supposed to be like...the devil or something?” “The devil?” Kucorbian laughed. “Hardly, though I appreciate the comparison. I’m just a simple soul eater looking for fresh meat.” “That doesn’t sound any better.” “Technicalities. Now, I’ve given you my name, but I don’t believe I’ve received yours.” “Uh...Napoleon.” The teenager replied. “My name is Napoleon Eldridge.” “I see. Well then, Napoleon, how about that deal?” “...What happens if I say no?” “Then I take your soul anyways and you don’t get anything out of it, like those police officers over there.” Kucorbian gestured over his shoulder to the still bodies of the cops that were lying on the ground. “If you’re just going to do it either way, why make a deal with me in the first place?” “It’s very simple.” Kucorbian flashed another unsettling grin. “Those who surrender themselves to me before death provide me with much more power.” “So you’re saying you’re going to kill me either way...but if I make a deal I get some cool stuff out of it?” “Correct.” Napoleon paused for a moment to think, closing his eyes. “It’s a nice offer, but…” After a few moments, he reopened his eyes, his face taking on a determined expression. “I refuse.” Kucorbian’s expression switched to one of mild agitation. “Excuse me?” “Just who do you think you’re talking to, anyway?” Napoleon pointed at himself with one of his thumbs. “I’m Napoleon Eldridge. That means I don’t take crap from anyone, especially some random asshole that pops up out of nowhere and starts talking nonsense about “eating souls” or whatever. Get the hell out of here.” Kucorbian stared at Napoleon in complete bewilderment. “...Are you an idiot?” Kucorbian asked, a twinge of annoyance creeping into his voice. “I could kill you where you stand!” “You can try.” Napoleon assumed a fighting stance, giving Kucorbian a “bring it on” gesture. “Try talking all that crap after a hit to that stupid mask of yours!” “Mask?” Kucorbian chuckled. “Human, you have no idea…” The fire around Kucorbian’s head flared up and began flowing out of his eyes and mouth. The pained screaming of hundreds of souls could be heard from the flames, as brief glimpses of what appeared to be faces swirled around in them. “WHAT FORCES YOU’RE DEALING WITH!” Kucorbian shot a stream of fire at Napoleon, who swiftly dodged off to the side, eyes widening in shock. As he hit the ground, he noticed that something was jabbing into the side of his leg, causing a sharp pain to run up his thigh. He rolled onto his front and pulled himself to his feet, reaching into his pants pocket where the unknown object had been jabbing him. He pulled out a strange capsule that contained a swirling mass of purple energy encased in an orange cloud. “What the hell?” He began looking over the capsule. “Was this in the dumpster with me?” “That’s not your biggest concern right now!” Kucorbian yelled. Napoleon dove under another stream of flames, dropping to the ground so fast that the capsule he was holding shattered against the asphalt. Shards of broken glass from the capsule cut up his right hand, prompting a surprised yelp of pain. He dragged himself to his feet again, looking down at his bloody hand. “None of this would be happening if you would simply accept my offer!” Kucorbian snapped. “Come to your senses!” “My senses?!” Napoleon snapped back. “I still don’t know if any of this is real! This all sounds like some stupid dream!” “Trust me, human, you’ll have plenty of time for actual dreams in your eternal sleep!” Kucorbian reared back, preparing another attack with his flames. Napoleon’s eyes narrowed with determination, and before Kucorbian could attack, Napoleon suddenly lunged forward and shoved his bloody fist into Kucorbian’s gaping mouth and down his throat. Choking more out of surprise than any real need to breathe, Kucorbian began stumbling around, swatting at Napoleon. “Sorry pumpkin-head, but I’m not letting you off that easy!” Napoleon yelled. “I think it’s about time your face had a little meeting with the grou-” Napoleon was interrupted by the swirling mass of orange and purple that had previously contained in the capsule suddenly flying up and smashing into his body, sending him flying backward and knocking him over flat on his back. Kucorbian took the opportunity to recover from the unexpected attack, beginning to approach the seemingly incapacitated Napoleon. “I have to admit…” Kucorbian’s eyes narrowed. “For something as pathetic as a human, you certainly have courage. Unfortunately…” Kucorbian reared back again, preparing to deliver the final blow. “Courage is meaningless without the power to back it up!” Kucorbian unleashed his final barrage of flames, creating a storm of fire that consumed Napoleon’s body, completely obscuring him from view. Kucorbian grinned and closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable burst of energy that came from absorbing a new soul. Instead, he received a rather nasty punch to his face. {3} Kucorbian stumbled backward a bit in shock, opening his eyes to find Napoleon standing before him, fully covered in some sort of purple and orange armor that had protected him from Kucorbian’s attack. “What the-” Kucorbian started. “What is this?!” “I...don’t actually know.” Napoleon admitted, looking himself over. “Seems handy, though. I think it came from that capsule I broke.” Kucorbian tried lunging at Napoleon again, but the armor covering Napoleon’s body suddenly dissolved and reformed into a small cannon surrounding the end of his arm, allowing him to shoot an energy ball of some kind that smashed into Kucorbian’s body, sending him flying. “Huh.” Napoleon looked down at the new construct. “You know, I was just thinking about how handy an arm cannon would...oh.” Napoleon shook his arm, dispersing the cannon. He waved the limb out away from his body, summoning a massive sword construct that enveloped his forearm with a large base to hold a nearly five-foot blade. He charged at Kucorbian, wildly swinging the sword at his skeletal opponent in wide, clumsy strikes. Kucorbian’s swift feet and mostly empty body allowed him to dodge each of these strikes fairly easily. “You were better off with the cannon, human!” Kucorbian mocked. “This is just embarrassing.” “If you think this is embarrassing, just wait until I actually beat you with this thing!” “That’s not-” Napoleon made a false swipe at Kucorbian’s legs, pulling back his sword and punching him with his free arm just as Kucorbian leaped out of the way of the perceived sword attack. Before Kucorbian could recover, Napoleon swung the sword back around and brought it down onto Kucorbian’s head, cutting into the pumpkin covering his skull. Kucorbian froze, staring up at the sword hanging precariously above his real head. “...Now, I know what you’re thinking.” Kucorbian spoke nervously. “Should I or should I not kill this creature that just killed two police officers and just tried to kill me? The answer to that may surprise you.” “Silly Kucorbian.” Napoleon tsked, shaking his head. “I don’t think.” “...Wha-” “I JUST DO!” The sword construct began pulsing with a purple energy matched by a purple flashing in Napoleon’s eyes. The same energy created an aura around Napoleon that filled the alleyway with an eerie, otherworldly glow. “FINISHING MOVE: “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU-” The sword buried in Kucorbian’s pumpkin burst into purple flames and shot downwards, slicing through Kucorbian’s body like a hot knife through butter. The blade slammed into the ground beneath Kucorbian’s bisected form, which was currently stumbling backward and slowly sliding apart. Napoleon calmly dispersed the sword construct and turned around, summoning a pair of angular shades and placing them onto his face. “You made one big mistake today, Kucorbian.” Napoleon pushed up on his shades, setting them into place as Kucorbian’s stumbling halves suddenly exploded apart behind him. “You fucked with Napoleon Eldridge.” ---- Napoleon yawned, dispersing the sleeping bag he had summoned the last night with a flick of his wrist. He had moved to another alleyway a few blocks over to avoid being caught with the bodies of two cops, as any reasonable person might, and spent about half an hour trying to remember how the hell sleeping bags worked before being able to put one together properly. “Man, I haven’t slept that well in ages.” He muttered to himself, creating a mirror on the wall of the alleyway to look at himself with. “...And it looks pretty obvious.” He stared at himself in the mirror for a few minutes, trying to figure out what he could do to fix up his look. After a bit, he snapped his fingers and ran his hand through his hair. “I need to do something about all this scruff.” He said, tapping a finger against his chin in thought. “But what to do…” After a few more moments of internal debate, he ran his fingers through his hair again, this time sending a buzzing swarm of nanomachines through with them. His hair was dyed a deep blue and spiked up, with a single clump on his left being dyed a lighter blue. He adjusted his shades, checking how they looked with his new hairstyle. “Yeah, now that’s what I’m talking about! Just look at that handsome devil!” Napoleon pointed at himself in the mirror. “Can’t believe they wanted to just shave this beautiful stuff off in military school!” Napoleon dismissed the mirror, turning away from the wall and walking down the alleyway to the entrance. He wasn’t paying any particular attention to where he was going, so when he ended up walking into something, he couldn’t be too surprised. What he walked into, however, was fairly surprising in and of itself. Napoleon backed up a few steps and stared up at what he had bumped into. The tall blue alien you may recall from earlier was standing right in front of him, holding a small GPS-like device and shooting Napoleon a rather annoyed glare. “Watch where you’re going, will you?” The alien snapped. “I’m looking for something, and I don’t need klutzes like you getting in the way.” “Yeesh, sorry.” Napoleon replied. “You’re pretty touchy, aren’t ya?” “Call me whatever you want. You’re still in my way.” Before Napoleon could make a retort, the alien’s device beeped, prompting him to glance at the device. He stared down at it for a few moments before groaning and smacking his hand against his forehead. “What’s that?” Napoleon asked. “It’s an OmniNav.” The alien replied. “More importantly, have you seen a small capsule with some purple and orange stuff floating around in it? This is saying it should be right in front of me, but I don’t see it.” “Yeah, actually. Found it last night.” “Really? Where is it?” “In here.” Napoleon tapped his head. “...Excuse me?” “I absorbed it or something.” “...Again, excuse me?” “Yeah, I don’t know what the deal is with it either.” Napoleon shrugged. “Accidentally broke the capsule and the purple and orange stuff just flew into me or something. On the bright side, I can do this now.” Napoleon summoned an arm cannon construct to show off as the alien stared at him flabbergasted. “...Oh my god.” “What’s wrong?” “My mission was to retrieve that thing!” The alien snapped. “How am I supposed to retrieve it now?!” “I dunno.” Napoleon dispersed the cannon. “I don’t think it comes out.” “Are you sure about that?” “Eh, not exactly. Like I said, just found it last night. Might just be I haven’t thought of a good way to remove it yet.” “Then I’m keeping an eye on you until you figure it out one way or another. I’m not breaking my one hundred percent success record by going back empty-handed.” “So we’re gonna be pals?” “...What?” “Well, if you’re gonna be hanging around me for a while, we might as well be friends, right?” Napoleon grinned, extending his hand towards the alien. “The name’s Napoleon Eldridge. What’s yours?” “Herculian.” The alien replied, slapping away Napoleon’s hand. “And I don’t make friends. Makes my job too complicated.” “Man, that’s no fun!” Napoleon pouted. “What is your job, anyway?” “I’m a mercenary. I do whatever people need me to as long as I’m paid the right price.” “So you’re...Herc the Merc?” “Call me that again and they’ll never find your body.” “Jeez, you really are touchy.” “At any rate, work on trying to get that thing out of you as fast as you can.” Herculian said. “I’d rather not spend any more time here than necessary.” “Not to worry, compadre!” Napoleon gave a hearty thumbs-up. “Napoleon Eldridge never turns down a challenge, and when he accepts it, he takes it to the max! I’ll have this all sorted out by next week or my name is mud!” ---- “So, Mud, you making any progress on getting that thing out yet?” “Okay, I guess I kinda walked into that one.” Napoleon sighed. “But do you have to say that every day?” “For as much trouble as you’re putting me through, you’re lucky I don’t say it every couple of hours.” Herculian grumbled, sitting down on the concrete of the alleyway the two were hiding out in. “Seriously, of all people to find Swarm 1, it ends up being some reckless kid on the run from the police?” “Swarm what?” Napoleon asked. “Oh for the love of- we’ve been over this!” Herculian snapped. “The guy who hired me said the thing in your body is called Swarm 1!” “I dunno, still sounds fake.” Napoleon said, rubbing his chin. “I think something like SwissArmyTrix works a lot better.” “That is one of the worst names I have ever heard and if I ever hear you using it unironically I swear to God I will shoot you.” "Well okay then." The pair fell silent for a moment. “...Hey, do you think this thing can make tacos?” “Excuse me?” “Tacos.” Napoleon repeated, turning around to look at the perplexed Herculian. “They’re this dish made out of a hard corn tortilla that holds a bunch of stuff like lettuce and ground beef and tomatoes and-” “I know what a taco is, you twit.” Herculian rolled his eyes. “I was referring to the idea that Swarm 1 can make tacos. Why the hell would you even think of that?” “I dunno.” Napoleon shrugged. “Seems like it can make everything else I want it to.” “You’ve used it to create machinery and manufactured objects. That’s a bit of a far cry from organic objects like foo-” Herculian trailed off as Napoleon waved a finger around and summoned a taco from out of nowhere, snatching it out of the air and taking a satisfied bite. “...Well, I guess that confirms one of the most powerful devices I’ve ever seen does indeed have the ability to make Mexican food.” Herculian paused to let out a deep sigh of frustration. “Because, you know, that’s what we all needed to know, of course.” “You got something against Mexicans?” “That's not-” “Are you racist?” “''Why would I be-''” “I mean, I guess when you think about, everyone’s a little bit racist.” Napoleon scratched his head in thought. “Everyone but me, of course. I treat everybody the same: not nearly as cool as me!” Herculian stared at Napoleon with the kind of expression you might find on a war veteran caught unprepared in the middle of a Vietnam flashback. “''WHAT ARE YOU?!” “Good looking.” Herculian closed his eyes and counted to ten, trying his best to control his breathing. It took Napoleon a few seconds to notice this. “What’s up, best buddy?” “...I am doing my best not to throttle you right now, but you are making it ''very difficult.” “Did you not get enough sleep last night or something?” “No, as a matter of fact, I did not.” Herculian snapped. “Because someone thought it would be a good idea to set off fireworks in the middle of the night!” “Okay, for the record, it was the Fourth of July, so you can’t blame that entirely on me.” “What the hell does the date have to do with it?!” “...You don’t know what Independence Day is, huh?” “Independence what?” “Oh, Independence Day is great.” Napoleon started explaining. “It’s where everyone shoots fireworks and eats a ton of meat to celebrate kicking Britain in the knockers when-” Napoleon’s explanation was interrupted by a massive explosion sounding from a few blocks away. A purple light accompanied the explosion, creating an eerie tint visible even from the alleyway he and Herculian were squatting in. “What was that?!” “Hell if I know.” Herculian grumbled. “More of those stupid fireworks, maybe?” “We need to go check it out!” “Napoleon, don’t-” Napoleon took off running towards the source of the explosion, seemingly ignoring Herculian, who rolled his eyes and ran off in pursuit. “Napoleon, what the hell are you doing?!” Herculian yelled after him. “Checking out that explosion, obviously!” Napoleon shouted back. “If those weren’t fireworks, someone might be in serious trouble, and if they were fireworks, I want in!” “Goddammit, Napoleon!” Napoleon kept running towards the source of the explosion, eventually getting caught up in crowds that were fleeing in the opposite direction. He rounded the corner of a street a few blocks down and stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing the source of all the chaos. It most definitely was not fireworks. Instead, Napoleon found himself staring up at a massive spider-like mech with a giant laser cannon mounted on its back. The “mandibles” of the mech dripped with a corrosive energy resembling the glow of Swarm 1’s own power source, melting holes in the road beneath the mech. The burning wreckage of various vehicles and building littered the street around the mech as it stomped through the city, slowly but surely moving its bulky form quickly enough to keep up with the injured stragglers that had been left behind. As it began to move closer and closer to the remaining civilians, it began charging the cannon on its back, creating a harsh buzzing noise that reverberated throughout the area. “Napoleon, you can’t just run off like-” Herculian rounded the corner attempting to chastise Napoleon, but froze up upon seeing the mech. “...What the hell is that?!” “Dunno.” Napoleon replied. “It was like that when I got here.” “Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.” Herculian grabbed Napoleon by the shoulder. “Anyways, we should get out of here and let the Plumbers deal with this.” “But they aren’t even here yet!” Napoleon protested. “What about the people that thing’s going after?!” “Not our problem.” “We can’t just let it kill them!” “Sure we can.” “Dude!” “Like I said, not our problem.” Herculian rolled his eyes. “Besides, how do you know it’s going after the people specifically? It might just be rampaging around in general.” “Alt-Earth Purge Cannon at 75% charge.” A bellowing metallic voice sounded from the machine. “Resuming Human Neutralization procedures.” Napoleon shot Herculian a flat look before taking off running towards the mech. “What the- get back here, dumbass!” Herculian yelled. “Why are you running towards the thing trying to kill every member of your species in the area?!” “So I can stop it, of course!” Napoleon yelled back. “Are you insane?! You can’t stop that thing!” “Just watch me!” {4} The mech stomped its way over to a man trapped under a pile of rubble and raised one of its legs in preparation to crush him. “Hey, asshole!” Napoleon shouted at the mech. “Over here!” The mech paused and turned to look at Napoleon, who skid to a halt about ten meters away from it. “If you’re trying to kill people, how about you try me on for size?!” Napoleon punctuated this statement by grabbing his shades and abruptly tossing them at the robot. “BOOMERANG SHADES ATTACK!” Napoleon’s shades sliced through the air in a spinning motion that made them resemble a rapidly-moving sawblade. The unorthodox projectile slammed directly into its target...and harmlessly bounced off of the mech’s armor with a small metallic ‘ting’. The mech and Napoleon silently stared at the shades lying on the ground for a few moments before turning to look at each other. “So, uh…” Napoleon scratched the back of his head. “I guess I should probably work on making that more...effective.” “Your optimism in assuming you’ll have the opportunity is admirable, but not appreciated.” The mech replied, swiping at Napoleon with one of its front legs. Napoleon countered the blow by summoning his sword construct and using it to slice through the approaching appendage, cutting off the tip of the leg. “So you’re a smarmy murder robot, got it.” Napoleon observed. “No idea who’d build something like that, but I appreciate their flair.” “Then stand still for a few seconds so you can fully drink it in.” The mech began moving its mandibles in a circular pattern, shaping out a steadily growing ball of sickly purple energy. “Never had much patience for art.” Napoleon replied, changing out the sword for his arm cannon construct and beginning to charge a blast of his own. “Like seriously, all you have to do is look at it for a couple seconds and move on, people. No idea why everyone spends friggin hours at galleries and stuff.” The mech fired the energy it was charging in a massive beam originating from the sphere between its mandibles. Napoleon responded in kind with his own beam of energy from his arm cannon, countering the mech’s attack and locking the two in a beam struggle. Slowly but surely, the mech’s attack began overtaking Napoleon’s, pushing back the beam from the arm cannon until it was eventually consumed, allowing the mech’s beam the slam into the cannon. The force of the impact shredded the construct and sent Napoleon crashing backward through a nearby store display window. Napoleon dragged himself to his feet with a groan, clutching at the arm the cannon had formed around. He noticed a warm, sticky feeling on his fingers and glanced down to find his arm torn up and bleeding profusely, with bits of shrapnel still stuck in his flesh here and there. Before he could think of what to do about this, one of the mech’s legs suddenly tore through the wall next to him and slammed into his side, scooping him out of the shop and tossing him down the street like a ragdoll. His entire body burning thanks to a combination of road rash and blunt force trauma, Napoleon found himself having an extremely difficult time standing up. He eventually managed to pull himself up, but was immediately confronted by the mech standing right in front of him. “Surprised that you’re not dead already, but it’ll only take a few seconds to fix that.” The mech raised its leg into the air above Napoleon. “You’re only human, after all.” “Then maybe-” Napoleon interrupted himself with a heavy coughing fit accompanied by some blood. “Shit, that’s gonna be sore in the morning...anyway, like I was saying...maybe I shouldn’t be!” “I’d ask what you meant by that, but I’m not giving you an out.” The mech brought down its leg directly towards Napoleon’s head, but milliseconds before it made contact, it was suddenly hit by a high-powered rifle shot that knocked it aside. Napoleon looked around for the source of the bullet and found Herculian standing nearby with his right arm transformed into an odd-looking rifle. “Woah, you can make a gun around your arm too?!” Napoleon exclaimed. “It’s shapeshifting, not construct building!” Herculian snapped. “Now stop gawking at me and get over here!” “No can do, best buddy!” Napoleon replied. “Thanks for the save, but I think I’ve got this!” “How the hell do you in any way “got this”?! You’re going to get Swarm 1 damaged!” Herculian paused for a moment before continuing. “Also I guess you’re going to die, but that’s not too high on my priority list.” “Neither of those are gonna happen!” Napoleon assured him. “In hindsight, you and the mech both have a good point. A human fighting a mech equipped with human murdery programming is a dumb idea.” “Finally! Now, get back over-” “But!” “God damn it.” “Given that information, I know just how to beat this thing!” Napoleon pointed up at the mech, which currently seemed indecisive as to whether it should be attacking Napoleon or Herculian first. “All I have to do is not be human!” “...That might be the stupidest thing I’ve heard from you over the past month, and that is saying a lot.” “I agree with the blue one.” The mech said. “I’m just gonna go ahead and kill you first so I don’t have to listen to any more of your asinine rambling.” “Geez, be a killjoy, why don’t ya?” Napoleon sighed and shrugged as the mech raised its leg over him again. Herculian tried to take another shot, but the mech blasted a small ball of energy at him, knocking him over backward. “Killjoy, kill you, same thing.” “You know, I’m really gonna miss our little chats, strangely talkative murderbot I just met three minutes ago.” Napoleon replied. “But not that much. So now, it’s time…” The mech threw its leg down towards Napoleon as he threw a hand in the air as if to block it. “TO TRANSFORM!” {5} A large circular hologram suddenly appeared in front of Napoleon as his body was obscured by a blindingly bright light. The hologram displayed a bright yellow star in front of a backdrop of a swirling purple void. Seconds before the mech’s leg made contact with his head, the hologram suddenly flew backward into Napoleon, exploding in a burst of light that morphed his body into a much larger form. The light faded as Napoleon caught the mech’s leg in his hand, revealing his transformation into . A clear panel sat over his gut, revealing a swirling cocktail of various chemicals, and a single purple eye sat in the center of a golden star pattern on his otherwise featureless face. “What the-” Herculian began. “How the- when did you- what the hell?!” “What’s so surprising?” Napoleon asked, his voice reverberating with a deep robotic tone. “Swarm 1’s been able to do whatever I wanted it to so far.” “Building new things is one thing, transforming existing objects is another!” Herculian snapped. “And that on its own would be strange enough, but what adds another layer of “what the shit” to this whole thing is the fact that you turned into a CaDU unit!” “A what now?” “They’re sentient androids designed for factory use in hazardous conditions.” “That is kinda weird.” Napoleon paused in thought for a few moments before shrugging it off. “Eh, questions for later. For now…” Napoleon grabbed onto the stunned mech’s leg with his other arm, spinning around and, with no small amount of effort, tossing the incredibly heavy machine an impressive distance down the street. It hit the asphalt with a massive crashing sound, ripping up chunks of the road as it screeched to a halt. “Let’s get this beatdown going!” The mech wasted no time hoisting itself up, turning back to face Napoleon. “Unexpected, but not much of an obstacle.” The mech noted. Panels across the mech’s back slid back with a mechanical hiss to reveal several missile launchers aimed directly at Napoleon. Several missiles fired off, locking onto Napoleon’s robotic form and rocketing towards him at high speeds. He punched away the first two missiles, sending them careening into the road behind him and creating two massive explosions that he intentionally tried to ignore for the coolness factor. As the third missile approached, hidden ports on his palms opened up while a series of valves sent liquid chemicals pumping through his arms. Twin chemical streams shot from his palms, hitting and rapidly eating away at the oncoming missile until there was nothing left but a metallic goop. “What did you just do?” Herculian asked. “Oh, not much, just hit the missile with some good ‘ol Fluoroantimonic Acid.” Napoleon explained. “Superacids, am I right?” “What you are is as good as dead.” The mech snapped. “Alt-Earth Purge Cannon at 100% charge. Initiating Extinction Strike.” “Uh, Herc?” Napoleon asked, backing further away from the mech as its legs retracted and it began to hover ominously. “I don’t know what an Extinction Strike is, but I’m willing to bet it’s gonna kill definitely us and maybe everyone.” “Definitely everyone.” The mech corrected. “Damn. Herc, you think Sludgehammer can tank whatever that is or nah?” “Sludgehammer?” “That’s what I decided to call this guy.” Napoleon elaborated. “CaDU just sounded too weird.” “I find it slightly hypocritical that you even have standards for that in the first place.” Herculian sighed in a defeated tone. “And in any case, I doubt it. We’re probably looking at something around a planet buster-sized attack here if the name is any indication, and, surprise surprise, factory droids were not designed to prevent planetary cataclysms.” “Well, I don’t need something that can prevent a cataclysm necessarily.” Napoleon replied. “Anything that can kick that bucket of bolts into next week before it fires that cannon would work, honestly.” “Then if you have any sort of plan at all, you should probably use it now.” Herculian said, pointing up at the mech. “It looks like it’s about to fire!” As Herculian had pointed out, the mech was indeed almost ready to fire the cannon charging on its back. The weapon gained an eerie purple glow as the mech hovered higher and higher up into the sky, likely looking for a clear area to fire upon. “Well, Sludgehammer can’t fly, so I can’t reach him at the moment. Which means…” Napoleon threw his arms out to the side. “It’s time to transform!” Napoleon’s body was consumed by another blindingly white light as another holographic symbol appeared in front of him. The symbol this time was composed of a dark green diamond in the center of the circle, with a lighter green acting as the background of the upper half of the circle and a jet black with two light purple triangles near the diamond acting as the background of the lower half. The symbol slammed into Napoleon, transforming him in an explosive burst of light that faded to reveal a tall, slim insectoid figure wearing armor that covered the majority of its head and torso. Scythe-like claws extended from its legs and forearms, and two translucent wings poked out of its back near the figure’s shoulder blades. Large gill-like flaps moved up and down as the new transformation took a deep breath. “Alrighty Herculian, this one’s got wings and big ‘ol cutty hands, so I think we should be good!” Napoleon said. “What is this one, by the way?” “That’s a Reduvidai.” Herculian explained frustratedly. “They’re amphibious aliens known for their speed and agility.” “Nice!” Napoleon replied. “You know a lot about aliens!” “No shit. Comes with the job. Now, do you mind not wasting your time talking and letting us all get blown up by that random-ass murder droid?!” “Already on it!” Napoleon jumped into the air faster than the human eye could follow, abruptly appearing directly in front of the barrel of the laser cannon on the mech’s back. He used his wings to propel himself forward, extending the claws on the back of his arms to slice through the cannon as he flew down the length of it. As he reached the back of the weapon and sliced through the machinery directly controlling it, the shredded metal began shimmering with purple sparks and buzzing loudly. “Critical Error: Cannon mechanism destroyed mid-charge. Deploying stabilization shields.” Thick metal panels slid out of openings on the mech’s back, covering up the sparking wreckage of the cannon. “Wow, the guys who built you actually thought of a way to keep you from exploding if your cannon got destroyed mid-charge.” Napoleon noted, appearing rather impressed. “But I bet I can slice through those anyways.” “Bitch you wouldn’t.” “Bitch I might.” “You realize that if this cannon explodes haphazardly the fallout will still be focused enough to destroy the majority of life on this continent?” The mech pointed out. “Dang it, you’re probably right about that.” Napoleon scratched the shell armor covering the top half of his head. “Then what do I do about you?” “Screw off and let me finish my job.” “Yeah, but like, your job is blowing up Earth, and I’m not really cool with that.” “I’m not going to “blow up Earth”.” The mech stated indignantly. “The energy from a single unit such as myself is far too weak to cause significant physical damage to the planet itself; that would defeat the point. The energy produced is simply at a wavelength designed to create a fallout that flash-fries every fleshy creature on the face of the planet, leaving it empty and ready for colonization.” “Wait, so whoever sent you is basically just doing the intergalactic equivalent of shooting a kid on a swingset so you can have the park to yourself?!” “...That is a very odd and mildly uncomfortable metaphor.” “JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION!” “If you were to dumb it down tremendously, then yes.” “Those basta-!” Napoleon cut himself off as he suddenly seemed to realize something. “Wait, who was it that built you?” “The Zenturi.” “The Zenturi! Those bastards!” Napoleon yelled. “...What are the Zenturi?” “I’d tell you, but my auto-repair system seems to be finished with the cannon, so I’m done distracting you for now.” “You're what?” The panels covering the mech’s cannon folded back into its body, revealing that the damage caused to the weapon by Napoleon’s scythe-like claws had been completely repaired. “No no no no no, no you don’t!” Napoleon swooped past the cannon again, slashing the metal comprising it to ribbons. The stabilization paneling rose up to cover the cannon again as Napoleon turned in midair to face the mech head-on. “Dick!” The mech snapped. “Are you going to keep doing that?!” “Nope.” “Good, then I can-” “‘Cuz I’ma kick you into space!” “...Excuse me?” “FINISHING MOVE: BUZZING ROCKET ESCAPE VELOCITY KICK!” “What the-” The mech was abruptly interrupted by Napoleon performing a highly unnecessary backflip in midair and kicking it upside the head with the aid of a spiked rocket construct that had suddenly manifested on his leg. The spikes on the rocket drilled into the mech’s armored plating, firmly planting the construct on the mech even as it detached from Napoleon’s leg. The rocket’s thrust suddenly increased tenfold, sending the mech flying up into space at an angle pointing its cannon away from the Earth. “I hope that doesn’t end up hitting anything important.” Napoleon said as he watched the rocket-propelled mech spiral uncontrollably out of the atmosphere. ---- “Fellow Arburian Pelarotas!” A large, rotund alien stood in front of a large crowd of similar aliens, giving what he considered to be a very inspirational speech. “After all these years, the Arburian Survivor’s Sol Colony is finally complete!” The speaking Arburian paused to let the crowd cheer for a few moments. “With our new home hidden away in the asteroid belt of the Sol system, we’re all but guaranteed to live on without fear of any more cataclysmic visitors!” The crowd began cheering again, but was interrupted by one of the Arburians in the back yelling and pointing at something approaching the asteroid their closed-glass colony was on. The speaking Arburian stepped towards the back of the room and looked through the glass to find a massive, uncontrolled spider-like mech bearing down upon them at rapid speed. “...Bollocks.” The Arburian Pelarota Extrapedia page was later updated that week to list their status as “Extinct (Again)”. When asked for comment as to when he would use the Omnitrix to restore the species, Ben Tennyson was quoted as saying he would “get to it eventually”. ---- “...Eh, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” ---- Napoleon touched down on the ground next to Herculian, who was staring at him with his brow furrowed and his left eye twitching. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?!” Herculian snapped. “Not really.” Napoleon shrugged, turning back into a human in a white flash of light. “But it worked out fine, so I don’t see what the big deal is.” “You got lucky, dumbass. Don’t go around pulling shit like that again, got it?” “Just try and stop me!” “Napoleon, I swear to god…” {6} As the two launched into another argument, an odd man that looked to be around his mid-30s peeked around the corner of a nearby alleyway, staring intensely at Napoleon. He wore a white suit with a purple tie and similarly purple accents, and his hair was a jet black, slicked back across the top of his head. “Napoleon Eldridge…” The man spoke softly, as if whispering to an invisible partner. “To think someone like that has become the master of the Swarm.” The man turned away from the entrance of the alleyway, walking down the asphalt a few steps before dissolving away into the air with a purple glow. ---- Thirteen humanoid beings shrouded in darkness sat around a long wooden table centered in the middle of a large, empty hall. The walls of the room were decorated with intricate paintings of various warped figures among mind-warping psychedelic imagery. “Our last colonization unit has been reported as no longer in service.” One of the beings spoke, their voice reverberating with a buzzing monotone. “Then our last hope is the master of the Swarm, whoever that may be.” The being sitting at the end of the table replied in a similarly monotone voice. “Do you truly think they will fall to the Swarm enough to destroy the life of their own world?” Another being asked. “It is not a matter of if, but a matter of when.” The being sitting at the end of the table assured. “And given what we have observed of these humans, I suspect it to be sooner rather than later.” ---- “You’re absolutely sure your evaluation of the droid as a planet buster was correct?” “I wouldn’t bother reporting the incident to you if I wasn’t.” A large earthen figure stared down at his alien subordinate from his metallic throne, leaning down towards them in a manner rather intimidating in the low-light environment of the room. “And you say it was defeated by...a human?” “Correct. One with transformation and construct generation abilities, to be specific.” “Then this is certainly worth looking into. Prepare and deploy a recon squadron as soon as possible.” “Understood, sir.” The alien making the report made a quick bow before exiting the room. The earthen figure resumed an upright position and narrowed his eyes. “I suspect you have some concern with this.” A small, stocky alien holding a holographic notepad shakily stepped out from behind the throne, looking up at the earthen figure with a worried expression. “W-well, far be it from me to question you, sir, but…” The alien gulped before continuing. “Are you sure we should be expending our resources on this? It is admittedly rather interesting, but can a single human truly present much of an obstacle in the long run?” “I don’t realistically expect a single human to be much of an issue, no.” The earthen figure affirmed. “However, I did not create the Obsidian Death by being reckless and ignorant. You should be just as aware as any of us that knowing your enemy before they move against you is essential to crushing them within a reasonable timeframe. Or do you not remember what happened on Blutkristall?” “I remember, sir.” The alien shuddered. “Very clearly. Your point is understood.” “Good.” The earthen figured sighed in mild exasperation. “Then let us hope this all goes smoothly.” ---- Frank was having a rough day. His wife was angry over something stupid again, he had accidentally dropped his lunch into the incinerator, his boss was having him stay late, and to top it all off, he was stuck at the facility alone with who many would consider his most annoying coworker, Dennis. Frank sat down at the incinerator's controls with a grunt of annoyance, silently bemoaning that he was stuck watching a machine that operated automatically for the most part on the very off off-chance that something went wrong. After a few minutes of silent boredom, Frank suddenly heard the sound of wild crashing coming from somewhere down the hallway leading to the incinerator room. After a few moments of debating with himself as to whether or not he should investigate what was likely another one of Dennis's tiresome pranks, he eventually sighed and got up, beginning to walk down the hallway. As he walked further down the oddly long corridor, the lights suddenly went out, prompting him to pull out his flashlight. The crashing sounds continued, taking on a more eerie tone in the dark. "Dennis, is that you?" Frank called out. "If this is another one of your stupid pranks, I swear to god I'm getting you written up this time!" The crashing stopped, allowing Frank to relax a bit. "Thank you!" He grumbled in exasperation. "Now, could you turn the lights back on?" The hallway remained silent and dark for a few moments, followed by the crashing resuming in an even more hectic fashion. "Dennis, I swear to God!" Frank power-walked down the hallway, feeling rather peeved and more than ready to tell Dennis off for being such a giant ass all the time. He rounded a corner and suddenly found himself looking at Dennis, who had his back turned to Frank and was standing as still as a statue. "Dennis, what the hell do you think you're doing?" There was no reply from Dennis. "Dennis, if you don't stop screwing with me right now, I swear I'll-" Frank grabbed Dennis by the shoulder and turned him around, only to find that Dennis's face, frozen in an expression of terror, had apparently been relieved of its eyes. Before Frank could react to this, Dennis's flesh began melting off, pooling on the ground next to a pile of mildly scorched bone fragments. Dennis's skeleton began warping in appearance as a red flame began to burn in his empty eye sockets. "Hello...Frank, is it?" Dennis's gradually mutating skeletal corpse spoke without moving its jaw. “Would you like to make a deal?” Soundtrack 1: ---- 2: ---- 3: ---- 4: ---- 5: ---- 6: Category:Tabs